COUNTERFEIT notes are making their way around the Tweed and police are warning retail outlets to keep an eye out.

Tweed police crime co-ordinator sergeant Stuart Crawford said that the fake notes had been used to purchase goods at Centro Tweed shopping centre, among other locations.

"Donut King was one of a number of shops in Centro which were targeted," he said.

"At a quick glance they're quite good knockoffs.

Sgt Crawford said that properly inspecting the notes would reveal their flaw.

"Best way to tell if they're fake is to crumple the note," he said.

"If it reforms into shape it is probably normal."

He said that a police taskforce on the Gold Coast was looking into the matter.

"There's a taskforce in Surfers targeting the huge amount of counterfeit notes."

Genesis fitness South Tweed Heads club manager Sasha Morse said they had been handed a note they suspected was not legit.

"The police did come and they said they're not quite sure," she said.

"It's been $50 notes.

"They're paper looking and it tears."

She said that while the $50 note Genesis received was not tearing, it did have wording missing and was passed onto their bank for verification.

"He (police) wasn't quite sure, but we took it to the bank and they will let us know by Friday," she said.

The Genesis manager added the incident was caught on camera and she would be letting police know the bank's findings.

Sgt Crawford contacted Centro Tweed, Tweed City and the local Chambers of Commerce by email to let them know the counterfeit notes were circulating and to be vigilant.

"So far we have taken reports of at least 8 notes in the past 4-5 days," he said.

"At this earlier stage we believe the offenders may be a couple, we have obtained CCTV footage and going through it to id the offenders.

"Information from Queensland is that notes are being dropped everywhere up there, a Task Force has been created to target the offenders, maybe the extra attention may have forced them down our way."